


Family isn't only blood

by radkoko



Category: X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Fandom, X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Still Have Powers, Angst, Canon Disabled Character, Gen, Happy Ending, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-23
Updated: 2015-11-23
Packaged: 2018-05-03 00:08:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5269151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radkoko/pseuds/radkoko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erik has been searching for the daughter that he gave up for adoption at birth. After years he finally finds her, but comes to find that she has her own family that isn't too keen on him wanting to take her away. Erik has to learn where he fits in and how to get his daughter back in his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Family isn't only blood

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dappertime](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dappertime/gifts).



> This one got out of hand. Completely wanted to write itself, so I apologize in advance for the massive amount of angst...

Erik held Pietro close to his chest, crying into the sparse white hair atop the small head.

How could he have ever let this happen? A nightmare and a miracle in one breath.

"I'm so sorry, Pietro," he whispered to his son, "We will find her though. I promise you."

His apartment wasn't ready for this change, Erik wasn't even sure how he was going to be able to take care a baby, but he couldn't turn back now.

Erik laid down on his back, continuing to cradle the tiny body against his chest. Pietro had been sleeping since Erik brought him home from the temporary foster home and Erik wasn't ready to disturb his rest.

There was something beautiful about this. A small being that he had been a part of creating. But that was where it all began to hurt once again. There should be two.

Twins, there had been two of them.

 

* * *

  
" _Twins?" Erik repeated when she told him. Magda nodded, with a sad smile. His heart wrenched in that moment. Not only was he giving up a child, his child to someone else, he was giving up two._

_"Are they still here?" he asked. It was stupid to ask. Even if they were, the agency had a closed adoption policy for the protection of both parties. Mutations were tricky and they had proven that the closed adoption system was better for everyone. Erik had read up on what it meant. It would be almost impossible for the child to track the parents, but just as difficult for the parent to track the child. It was rare for the father to even be marked on the birth certificate in most cases._

_He would never see them._

_He went home, but he couldn't sleep. Twins. Why couldn't he get that word out of his head?_

_The hours crept by and his decision solidified._

_“You what?” Magda asked him. He could tell she was confused by his decision. What Erik wasn’t sure, was whether it was anger that was sneaking into her voice. “We agreed on this Erik, you can’t just take something like this back."_

_“I…” Erik hated being speechless, but this situation had already gotten out of his hands and he wanted control again. “They’re my children too, Magda. I want them back."_

_It sounded selfish, but it hurt far too much to think that he’d just let them go._

_“I can’t help you, Erik.” Magda was packing her things from the hospital room, obvious with her attempt to avoid looking Erik in the eyes._

_He watched her for a long moment, “I understand. Goodbye Magda."_

 

* * *

 

“I found her!” Erik nearly dropped the phone when he heard the accented voice.

“Where?”

It had been far too long since he’d heard any good news from Azazel. He’d hired the man years ago to help him track down his daughter. The agency had not been able to help him track her down, not that it seemed like they wanted to find her. Erik had worked with them for months before they gave up. That was when he’d found Azazel. Erik wouldn’t give up on finding her, he couldn’t.

“I’ll take you there."

“Just let me gra-“ Erik stopped mid-sentence when he heard the pop behind him. He tensed, struggling for the second time to not drop his phone.

“They’re close.” Azazel held out his hand for Erik.

“No.” Erik turned away from the man. “I have to take Pietro and he hates teleporting with you.” After the last time they had teleported together Pietro couldn’t sit still for hours. He raced around the house until he got so tired that he fell flat on his face. He’d made Erik promise to never let Azazel teleport them again.

Azazel scoffed at him, “Weak."

“My son is not weak!” It was no surprise that Erik had grown protective of his son, he was too afraid that someone would try to take him away. They would tell Erik that he was a horrible father and that Pietro should be in a family with two parents. He hadn’t seen Magda since that last day in the hospital, but he thought he was doing just fine on his own.

“I meant you."

Erik looked at Azazel for a moment before he cracked a smile and let out a laugh that washed over all of his nerves. Azazel was right, he was completely weak for his son, and that was the one thing that he hoped would get him through to getting his daughter back.

“Pietro!” Erik called, feeling the rush of wind seconds later. There was a tug at his pants leg as Pietro clung to it keeping Erik between him and Azazel.

“Why’s he here?” Pietro asked, his voice softer than normal as if he thought Azazel wouldn’t hear him.

“Come on, we’re going to go meet someone.” Erik pulled his son from his pant leg and shuffled him towards the car.

“Who?” Pietro’s six-year-old curiosity was something Erik was still getting used to.

“You’ll just have to wait and see."

 

* * *

 

Azazel was right, they were close. It was less than an hour out of the city to get to the home where his daughter was living.

When Erik pulled up he wasn’t quite sure what to think. The place was a mansion. How was he going to convince these people that he could take better care of her?

Erik took a deep breath and stepped out of the car. It didn’t matter what lifestyle these people had, he was here for his daughter and he’d do anything to get her back. Of course he was going to be the right choice for her future.

“Follow me,” Erik motioned for Pietro to follow him, glancing at Azazel who decided he was going to leave as soon as they got inside.

Erik paused in front of the door, holding up a hand to knock, but unable to complete the motion.

“Dad?” Pietro’s voice broke through Erik’s thoughts.

“Yes?” Erik asked turning from the door to look at his son.

“Are you okay?"

“Yes.” Erik let out the breath he was holding, and knocked on the door.

The wind blew around them, making the only noise as they waited for someone to answer the door. Erik stared at the door realizing that with a house this large, it might be impossible to catch the attention of the people inside. He was about to use his powers to feel out for the movement of metal inside when he heard the door begin to creak open.

He looked forward but saw no one.

“Hello,” a warm and gentle voice called to him. Erik looked down to see a man sitting in a wheelchair at the door, and a young girl sitting on his lap.

 

 

Erik almost wanted to cry when he saw her. She had perfect auburn curls, and large brown eyes that reminded him of Magda. There was no question that she was his daughter, and she was perfect.

Pietro pulled away from Erik staring at the girl, who seemed to have an equal fixation on him. She crawled out of the man’s lap and began to inspect Pietro carefully. They stood there for a minute mirroring each other, one hand in the air, followed by the other.

Erik had done some research on twins after they were born and knew identical twins were extraordinarily rare in male-female twins, but he was starting to wonder if their mutation changed any of those statistics.

“Ohh…” the man voiced. His face twisted between confusion and understanding, while his eyes seemed almost fogged over as if he were somewhere else.

Erik wasn’t getting a good first impression of this man who had been caring for his daughter.

“Stop yelling at me, Charles!” A young woman came stomping up to the door, stopping when she caught Erik’s eye.

_His wife,_ Erik thought. Of course she would be in a family that had two loving parents. He was beginning to lose his nerve.

“Who…” the woman began to ask before turning to the twins now locked in a staring contest, “What’s going on, Charles?” she asked, confused as he was, and worry twining through her question.

“Would you and your son like to join us inside for this conversation, Mr. Lehnsherr?” he asked.

“How d-"

“I’ll explain inside.” Charles had already turned around and started moving his chair down a hallway.

The woman held the door open and moved her arm in a sweeping motion to suggest for them to follow. The little girl grabbed Pietro’s hand and started pulling him down the hall after Charles.

Erik walked at a slow pace, trying to think out what he needed to say. He wasn’t able to form a full sentence before he got distracted by the sight of Pietro and his sister running down the hall together. She seemed a little more reserved than he was, but it really showed something that he wasn’t using his powers to speed past her.

When they reached the living room, Erik watched as his daughter walked up to Charles and stood next to him patiently while Pietro fidgeted at her side.

“Wanda, darling. How about you show Pietro the house.”

_Wanda,_ Erik thought. It fit her.

She nodded and started to walk away before Charles called to her, “You know the rules, no going outside and no powers without supervision."

“Yes, papa.” Wanda took Pietro’s hand again and started walking away. Pietro turned to look at Erik, who gave a reluctant nod.

Once the children were out of the room Erik wanted to remind himself to not overstep his bounds. “You don’t let her use her powers without supervision?” Erik asked. Okay so he wasn’t very good at keeping to boundaries. He hadn’t even known she had powers before Charles said anything.

“Most mutations are not without their risks. It’s not-"

“Risks?” Erik interrupted shaking his head in disbelief. “She has to be able to learn."

Charles huffed, “Of course she’s learning how to use her powers, I would never take that from her as you seem to think. But as I was saying, if you will let me finish this time…” he paused giving Erik a challenging glare, “We’ve found that her powers are a little complicated and she is very young, I don’t want her to hurt herself."

Erik stared at Charles trying to decide how to feel about this man. He and his wife seemed very human, but somehow were accepting of whatever mutation Wanda possessed. It was what they had been looking for with the adoption agency they chose.

 

* * *

 

_"We should give it up for adoption," Magda said. It seemed out of the blue to Erik, but there was a steadiness behind her voice that told him how much she had been thinking about this._

_Sitting next to her on the couch, Erik had trouble forming any words to respond to her suggestion._

_"I-" Magda tried to continue, but tears started to streak down her cheeks and Erik could hear the choked sobs that she was attempting to hold down._

_Erik grabbed her hand, intertwining their fingers, and pulled it to his mouth._

_"Erik, stop," she managed to say between the sobs. He let her hand fall from his, returning to rest in her lap._

_They sat not speaking as Magda attempted to get her breathing under control._

_"We don't work together anymore. I can see it in your face, Erik. I don't want this child, and neither do you." It was an accusation that he couldn't fight. He didn't want a child. Not just he didn't want a child, but Erik had always believed that he'd never want a child. They were annoying, loud, and incapable of caring for themselves. Why would anyone want that?_

_"I won't have an abortion, but I think it would be best to let the baby be adopted by someone who would care for it."_

_Erik wanted to agree, but one thing kept needling at him. "Magda, what if it's a mutant?"_

_She didn't respond right away, but he watched her face knowing she'd been thinking the same thing._

_"I…there are specialty adoption agencies that will take children where one or both of the parents are mutants. They seem reputable. And they make sure that no parents can adopt a child without giving them real statistics on how likely the child is to have a mutation. It's even run by mutants…" she started to trail off. Erik was very vocal about the mistrust amongst the population when it came to mutants. He was going to have to do his own research, but it struck him funny how much Magda still cared about his feelings when she had just dissolved their relationship._

 

* * *

 

Charles’ laugh brought him back to the present.

“Get that stupid grin off your face, Charles, and tell him what’s going on!” the woman reprimanded Charles, only to rile up his laughter again. She glared at him, crossed arms and all, waiting for him to finish.

“Did I miss something?” Erik asked, feeling overwhelmed by the connection between the two of them.

“I’m terribly sorry that we didn’t do this properly,” Charles started after his last bout of laughter, “My name is Charles Xavier, and this is my sister Raven."

Sister, well that explained their connection, but Erik still felt that he was missing something.

“And although we are both mutants, I’ve always disagreed with the point that mutants and humans are separate species. Your statement that we seemed human is true in some ways."

Erik looked at Charles. He would never say such a thing out loud…if Charles was a mutant, that would mean...

“Correct, I am a telepath,” Charles took the words from the tip of Erik’s tongue. “My apologies you’re thinking quite loud, and I didn’t intend to listen to your thoughts, I was just keeping tabs on the children."

“Right…” Erik stopped. He felt Charles and Raven staring at him, waiting for him to say what they all knew.

“Pietro and Wanda.” It was a hard story to tell. Erik clasped his hands together in his lap, then took a deep breath before continuing. “Pietro and Wanda are my children with an ex-girlfriend. We weren’t in a good spot with our relationship and bringing a child into that was a horrible idea. She suggested that we give the child up for adoption, and I agreed. When they were born…when I found out they were twins, I couldn’t stop thinking about them. I couldn’t let them go. Pietro was still with the adoption agency, but Wanda…I promised I would find her. They should be with each other."

“I agree,” Charles said, startling Erik. He looked up from his hands to the gentle face of the other man.

“But Charles you ca-“ Raven started to protest before she stopped with a glare between them. Erik took it as a sign that they had taken the conversation into the private space of their minds. After a few moments and some tense staring, Raven huffed and left the room letting the door slam behind her.

“My apologies. Where were we?” Charles asked giving Erik a bright smile.

“I was saying I want to take Wanda home with me.” Erik knew it wasn’t his exact words, but it had always been his intention.

“No."

“What?” Erik felt like Charles had flipped the world on him.

“Wanda is not a possession to be owned. Even with your best intentions, she is my daughter and I won’t just give her to someone.” Charles sat up straighter in his chair looking Erik in the eyes.

“You just said you agreed with me, why are you changing your mind?”

“I agreed that Wanda and Pietro need to be in each others lives. It was very clear when they met that they are aware of the connection, and I wouldn’t want to take that away from them."

Erik thrummed his fingers on his thigh as he thought. This wasn’t what he had planned.

“I’m sorry that it’s not what you were expecting to hear, but I’m sure you must understand."

“I’m not sure I do,” Erik whispered, sure that Charles heard him anyway.

Charles sighed; he took a moment to compose himself and rolled to the desk behind him. Erik watched him scribble something on a piece of paper and made his way to Erik’s side.

“Maybe it’s best if you and Pietro go home for today. Think about it, and call me when you’d like to bring him back. I’m sure Wanda will be waiting.” Charles held the piece of paper out to Erik. He stared at the paper for a long moment and took it in his hand.

There was a knock at the door before Wanda and Pietro peaked in.

“Come in,” Charles called. Erik watched as he seemed to flip a switch and give the children a huge smile as if the last few minutes had never happened.

“Is everything okay?” Wanda asked. Erik watched her realizing that Charles must have called for them when he wrote down his phone number.

“Everything is fine,” Erik replied for them, earning a surprised look from Charles. “It’s time to leave Pietro, you have school in the morning."

Erik’s heart almost broke as he saw Wanda lean over and give Pietro a hug. He wanted so desperately to hug his daughter, but she wouldn’t understand.

“Good evening Mr. Lehnsherr, Pietro. I trust you can let yourself out?” Charles asked.

“Yes, Good Night.” Erik knew it came out more sharp than he had intended, but he was ready to be home.

He took Pietro’s hand and walked them out of the house, ignoring the glare from Raven where she stood in the hallway as they passed. When they made it back to the car Azazel had already left, leaving Erik alone with Pietro for the ride home.

“Will we go back?” Pietro asked after they had gotten on their way.

“Do you want to see Wanda again?” Erik asked.

“Yes,” Pietro answered without missing a beat.

Erik took a moment, but knew the right answer, “Of course we’ll go back.”

This wasn’t about himself this was about his son and his daughter. Erik wanted them to be more than random strangers, he wanted them to be family. It was just starting to scare him that he may not get to be a part of it.

 

* * *

 

“Hello?” Erik heard the British lilt echo through his phone as he tried to find the right words to say.

“Hello?” Charles asked again.

“Hi."

“Mr. Lehnsherr?”

“Yes."

“I’m so glad you decided to call. Wanda is very insistent that Pietro come back to the house."

Erik couldn’t help the laugh that escaped his lips. “Pietro was ready for me to turn around the car before we had gotten down the driveway.” Okay, so it was an exaggeration, but it was true Pietro had been bugging him for the last week non-stop about getting to see Wanda again.

“Would you two like to come over tomorrow afternoon?” Charles asked.

“If that’s alright with you.” Erik remembered how he had acted the last time they had met. He was surprised that Charles seemed to be welcoming him back with open arms.

“Of course."

As soon as he was off the phone, Erik told Pietro that they would be going to see Wanda the next day. Pietro got so excited that he started running everywhere, hoping that it would help the next day arrive sooner.

The next day Erik packed them into the car and drove them off to Charles’ house. It was only the look that Erik gave Pietro that kept him from running towards the door before the car had stopped. He had already started knocking on the door before Erik had gotten to the front step.

Erik felt out with his powers, knowing that he should be able to sense Charles’ presence in the metal chair. He watched as Pietro fidgeted waiting for the door to open.

When the door opened he was greeted with the friendly smile from Charles and the equally brilliant smile from Wanda.

“Hello, it’s wonderful to see you both,” Charles said, “Come in.” He backed up to let them into the entryway.

Wanda grabbed Pietro’s hand and was about to walk away when Charles caught her attention, “Excuse me, little one."

“Yes?” She quirked her head and with a questioning glance.

“Don’t you think it’s proper to introduce yourself to Pietro’s father?"

Wanda looked towards Erik, eyes wide with some emotion that he couldn’t quite figure out.

“Hello Pietro’s father. I’m Wanda. It’s very nice to meet you.”

“Hi Wanda,” Erik replied as he knelt to the ground to be at eye level, “You can call me Erik. I’m very happy to meet you too.” He smiled at her. This was a start.

Wanda looked at Charles then at Pietro before looking back at Erik. “Mr. Erik, are you special too?"

“Wanda…” Charles groaned. Erik looked at the man out of the corner of his eye, seeing a slight pink tinge over his cheeks as if she had embarrassed him.

“Yes, Wanda. I am a Mutant like you and Pietro."

She bit her lip and glanced towards Charles, then spoke again, “Can I see?"

“No, Wanda,” Charles chided her, “We don’t use our powers to show off to others."

Erik glanced at Charles, _I don’t mind._ He’d never attempted to speak with another mutant telepathically so he hoped the message would get though.

Charles bit his lip, almost in a mimicking gesture to Wanda’s, “Ask Mr. Lehnsherr properly, and maybe he will show you his mutation."

Wanda tensed in excitement, “Mr. Erik will you please show me your powers?"

Erik nodded, and sensed out for something metal that he could shape or levitate, but found the entryway to be lacking in anything that was worth showing. He looked over at Charles, wondering if it would be too much to borrow him for the demonstration. _I hope you don’t mind,_ Erik sent to Charles once again, since it had seemed to work the first time.

He raised his hand and lifted the wheelchair off the ground about a foot, long enough for Wanda to notice and then placed it back on the floor with a gentle touch.

“Wow…” Wanda’s eyes really said it all, but Erik couldn’t help smiling at how impressed she was.

“Truly incredible,” Charles chimed in looking around his chair as if he expected wires.

“I would love to see what you can do…” Erik said trying to coax Wanda into showing him. He was hoping she would be as easy to convince as Pietro.

Wanda scrunched up her face at his request and looked at Charles. “We’re having a little trouble with her mutation. It seems to be tied to her emotions and there have been some bad experiences with forcing it."

Erik’s eyes never left Wanda as Charles explained. She seemed almost ashamed of herself, and he couldn’t stand that. “Don’t worry. I didn’t even know about my powers until I was 12. When I was learning, I was always flinging metal across the room. My mother was unhappy whenever I was sick, she said it was like having to clean up after two children."

When his little girl laughed at him, Erik knew he’d made the right choice.

“We should let you go play,” Erik said with a smile.

“Yes, please go enjoy yourselves,” Charles agreed with a shooing motion.

The kids didn’t need to be asked twice as they disappeared into the house.

Erik wasn’t exactly sure what Charles had expected him to do while Pietro and Wanda played, but before Erik could make a fool of himself by asking, Charles spoke first, “Would you like to see the house? I mean, it isn’t anything all that interesting if you have better things to do, but I thought you might like to stay…"

Charles was watching him with a nervous smile as if he expected Erik to bolt. “I’d love to."

The smile on Charles’ face grew more gentle and genuine as he started off down the hall. “We’ll start in the most important room of the house,” Charles said as they entered the kitchen. If Erik don’t know any better he would have thought Charles was pandering to him, other than Wanda’s room he probably would agree to calling this the most important room in the house.

Charles continued through the tour of the bottom floor, narrating every room they passed. Erik smiled and laughed along when Charles made any jokes, but he was distracted when he realized that there wasn’t a single bedroom on the floor. He’d tried to be polite about Charles’ disability by avoiding questions of what happened and how long he had been in a wheelchair, but he had expected to see more accommodations in the man's own house.

They got to the far end of the first floor and started heading back to the grand staircase in the entryway. Before reaching it, Charles stopped in the middle of the hallway and depressed a panel on the side of the wall.

A section of the wall slid aside and opened to a modern looking elevator, Charles rolled himself into the empty space with a smug look on his face. “You didn’t think I’d confine myself to the ground floor did you?"

Erik was speechless. He had thought that, but this was showing him a new side of Charles. They stared at each other for a long moment before the elevator door tried to close. Erik reached out with his powers and sent it back to the open position.

“Did you still want to see the rest?” Charles asked, retreating from his confident smile back to the nervous unsure one that he’d had before they started the tour.

“You are unusual…” Erik mumbled as he stepped into the elevator. He avoided looking at Charles, still trying to piece together the puzzle that he was.

“It’s not an easy life, so I try to enjoy it the best I can,” Charles replied.

It made Erik want to question Charles about everything. The elevator was new technology, leading Erik to believe this was a recent change in Charles’ life, but he could have just as easily had it remodeled. Had Wanda been here when everything changed, or did it happen before she was adopted?

The elevator dinged as they reached the second floor, and Charles led the way once again. Erik tried to ignore the questions in his head. He was so distracted that Erik barely noticed when they came up to the open room where Wanda and Pietro were playing.

The room was pink…very pink.

Well... maybe it was more of a light red, Wanda seemed to like that color. He’d only seen her twice, but she had been wearing red both days and if her room said anything about her, it was a common occurrence.

“Dad!” Pietro raced over to Erik. “Wanda had horses!” He held up the plastic toy horse that they had been playing with moments before. Erik took the toy from his son and looked it over.

Erik had been an only son, and here he was raising a son. Their house was filled with the classic toy cars and legos in bright primary colors, and Pietro always wanted to be dressed in blue or green. He looked at the horse and around the room wondering if those choices would have been any different with Wanda in their house. His son seemed happy to be playing with her dolls and horses and he could guess that Wanda would love to play with his cars just as much.

“Are you okay?” Pietro asked. It was going to become a common question whenever they came here.

“I was just deciding who would win between Wanda’s horses and your cars,” Erik bluffed, “Maybe we can bring them over next time."

“My cars would win!” Pietro replied with confidence.

“Nu uhh,” Wanda chimed in. “You just said that the horses were faster…"

Erik and Charles laughed in unison. Erik looked over at Charles for the first time since they’d left the elevator and gave a genuine smile.

“Why don’t you two go back to playing, we’ve still got a few more rooms to see,” Charles said giving a small wave to Wanda and continuing down the hall.

Pietro gave Erik’s leg a hug, took back the horse, and continued playing with Wanda. Erik watched for a moment before pulling out his phone and snapping a picture of his two children playing together.

He was staring at it as he walked down the hall to catch up to Charles. When he caught sight of Charles looking at him, his heart clenched. “I probably should have asked before I did that…” Erik said, terrified that Charles would ask him to delete the photo. Parents had gotten so protective over the years of anything like that, but Charles just shook his head and didn’t say a word.

They got to the end of the house away from Wanda’s door before Charles spoke up, “I’m sorry this is so complicated, but I don’t want you to feel like I would ever stop you from something as normal as a photo of Wanda and Pietro playing together."

“You’d be surprised how many parents think it’s abnormal. One of the forms that Pietro’s school sent home was to inform parents that the teachers might take photos of the children to hang in their rooms or the hallways. I joked about it at the Parent Teacher conference, and the teacher told me that almost half of the parents were unwilling to sign it."

“That’s ridiculous,” Charles replied.

Erik laughed, “That was my exact reaction."

Charles smiled and looked around, “Well that is the end of my tour, unfortunately. I could take us back to the kitchen or the study where we were last time?"

Erik looked down, then up, “Aren’t there three floors?”

The look on Charles’ face fell, “Yes.” Erik waited, not sure if he understood Charles’ reluctance to show him the third floor. “I guess you didn’t notice, but the elevator was only built to go between the first two floors. When we installed it, they said the structure couldn’t support it going to the third floor. Well, more specifically the roof couldn’t support the mechanisms to run the elevator, so they had to use the third floor for that."

Erik hadn’t noticed. He thought back to the elevator realizing there were only two floors and he could feel the large equipment taking up the space on the top floor of the house.

“Where are the stairs?” Erik asked, thinking of something.

Charles gave him a questioning glare, but lead them back to the center of the house where the grand staircase ended and a set of smaller stairs started. Erik looked around the turn in the stairs, it would be tight, but he thought he could manage.

“Would you like to go up there?” he asked Charles.

The man looked at him like he was crazy, “How?"

Erik repeated his trick from earlier, lifting the wheelchair a few inches off the ground.

Charles eyes lit up, which Erik took as a yes, and he started hovering the chair through the staircase and up to the third floor.

Once the wheels of the chair touched the ground Charles started to move around the floor. Erik noticed that everything had been kept clean for the most part, but even still there was a layer of dust on the tables and portraits against the walls.

“I haven’t been up here in almost seven years…” Charles said it as if he couldn’t believe it. “Thank you."

Erik took the gratitude to heart. “It’s the least I can do. You have taken care of Wanda for all these years."

“She is a wonderful child, and I love her very much."

Erik was sure that Charles didn’t mean for that statement to hurt him, but it was painful to hear. It was hard to hate Charles like Erik had wanted to when he knew someone else had adopted Wanda.

“Come here!” Charles waved him over, giddy as he opened one of the doors.

Erik followed Charles into the room and marveled at what it held.

It was a large room. The walls were lined with inset bookcases that were full from floor to ceiling with books. They were broken up with a few windows and a large fireplace. On one side sat a huge desk, and in the middle lay a chess set up with a game in progress.

Seven years. Charles had said it was seven years since he’d been up here. That answered a few of Erik’s questions.

Charles settled by the chessboard staring at it.

“The queen should take the knight,” Erik stated after a moment studying the board.

“You play?” Charles asked.

“I did at one time, although I’ve never tried to teach Pietro. I’m sure you can tell he wouldn’t have the patience for it."

Charles laughed at the comment, “Maybe one day…"

“Did you want to play?”

“I may be a bit rusty, but it doesn’t seem like a bad way to spend the afternoon,” Charles said barely hiding his excitement that Erik asked.

Erik sat down opposite Charles and waved his hand to reset the pieces.

“Your mutation really is fascinating, but it seems different from the rest of the telekinetics that I’ve met,” Charles said as he moved his pawn out two spaces, “Then again most that I’ve met have been very young."

“Well it would be hard to compare me to them, as I’m not a telekinetic,” Erik viewed the board and followed suit, “I can control metal through their magnetic fields."

“Even more magnificent,” Charles said, pulling his knight into the fray. “I don’t believe I have ever met someone with your abilities."

Erik moved another pawn to fortify his defenses, as he and Charles delved further into his mutation. They traded stories of their childhoods and the struggles their mutations had added to the troubles of growing up.

They played until only a few pieces were left on the board.

“I thought you said you were rusty?” Erik asked as he forfeit the game with the realization he couldn’t win.

“I didn’t cheat if that’s what you were implying."

“No…” Erik said, looking Charles in the eye. He’d known that telepaths were discriminated against even within the mutant community, and he could see it weighing heavily in Charles’ statement.

“I wasn’t allowed to play in tournaments because they thought I would have an unfair advantage. People don’t understand how minds work. Really, I’ve tried looking into the minds of people when playing chess, and more often than not it causes me to lose.” Erik quirked his head questioning the statement.

“When playing chess people are often thinking steps ahead of where they are. They are thinking of about 5 different scenarios based on any move their opponent takes. If I follow the wrong path, I could be setting myself up for failure."

“Interesting, I’ve never thought about it that way,” Erik replied.

Charles head snapped to the side, then he looked down at the watch on his wrist. “Ohh dear, I guess it has gotten late."

The curtains had been closed when they entered the room so Erik hadn’t been aware of the sun setting, but he could feel the hands ticking on Charles’ watch telling them it was nearly 7 pm.

“I think the children are hungry. If you could take us back downstairs,” Charles requested.

Erik held his laugh knowing that Pietro was probably the one thinking so loud that it caught Charles attention.

They made their way back down the stairs to where Wanda and Pietro were laying down in Wanda’s room.

“Hungry…” Pietro whined just as they made it to the door.

“I think we can do something about that,” Charles interjected, “If it’s okay with your father.” Erik nodded; he was getting hungry as well.

They all piled into the elevator and took it down to the first floor. As soon as they were out of the elevator a blue-scaled woman with red hair started walking over to them.

“There you are. I have been looking everywhere f-“ She began before she noticed Erik and Pietro at Charles and Wanda’s side. With a ripple to her visible skin she shifted into the blonde, pale skin and brown eyes. “Why is he here, Charles?” Raven asked in a hushed voice.

“Pietro and Wanda were having a fun play date together, I told you about it this morning."

“Auntie Raven, Pietro wants to see you shift again,” Wanda pulled at Raven’s skirt and pointed to the boy at her side.

Erik looked down at the boy, knowing he hadn’t said a word, but his jaw was hanging open and his eyes were wide.

“Not now sweetheart, I have to talk to your father.” Raven gave Erik a challenging look before turning back to Charles.

Erik could no longer hear what was being said, but based on Raven’s reaction to him and the emotions playing on Charles’ face he could guess it was along the lines of ‘He wants to take her away’. While it had been a true statement even earlier that morning, spending the afternoon with Charles had made him see that even if he took custody of Wanda, Charles would always need to be in her life.

“Pietro, I think we need to go home,” Erik’s words cut through Charles and Raven’s conversation, drawing everyone’s attention to him.

Pietro didn’t say a word, but looked between all the adults and nodded. He turned to Wanda who was already pulling him close into a hug.

Erik kneeled down again to say goodbye to Wanda, and was surprised when she bypassed the hand he held out to give him a hug. He couldn’t say a word, and was too shocked to return the gesture.

When she pulled away she stood by Charles’ side and waved, “You’ll come back next week right?"

Pietro looked up expectantly at Erik, who tried not to cringe. “I’ll talk to your father about it later."

They both frowned, but accepted his answer. He took Pietro’s hand and let themselves out.

Before he started up the car he heard a voice call out in his mind. _I’m sorry about Raven, but you are always welcome back._

Erik couldn’t help the grin that grew on his face as he started to drive them home.

 

* * *

 

Charles was the first to call the next week, eager to invite them back again, assuring Erik that he had talked with Raven about her reaction from the previous weekend.

When they got there, Pietro and Wanda ran off again leaving Erik and Charles alone once again.

"Care for another game of chess?” Charles asked.

Weeks led to months of the same routine. Wanda and Pietro in her room and Charles and Erik sneaking up to the third floor to play chess.

Their escapes continue to be a secret until one evening Raven found them. “Charles?” The surprise that he is this room is written on her face. “How?"

Charles smiled at her as if he had planned everything, “Erik brought me up here. We’ve been playing chess while the children play in Wanda’s room.” He lowered his voice and pretended to whisper behind his hand, “I’ve got more wins than him, but he’s catching up."

Raven looked like she was about to cry, so Erik excused himself to the restroom down the hall. She seemed to care for Charles a lot, which Erik respected, he just wished it didn’t come with the hatred towards him. He dried his hands and opened the door to see Raven waiting in the hallway. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“I’m sorry,” he replied.

“What? I said Thank you,” she raised her voice.

“Yes, I heard you. I wanted to say I’m sorry.” He looked towards the study where Charles was probably trying to distract himself from listening into the conversation. “I know you and Charles have been caring for Wanda for these last 6 years, but she’s my daughter and I do care about wanting her in my life. That seems to have a much harder effect on you than your brother though."

“He’s better at not showing it,” Raven replied. “I gather that if you two come up here, he’s told you that it’s been years since he could.” Erik nodded remembering Charles’ excitement when they first reached the study. “I doubt he’s told you everything though. Obviously the accident was hard on him, but he was optimistic about everything. When the construction company told us that they couldn’t make the elevator come up here he just smiled and said okay, but a few days after they completed it, everything changed. He shut down and wouldn’t talk to anyone. He didn’t work, he barely ate. And then we found Wanda. She saved him. You can’t take her away!” Raven’s voice was wavering and her skin rippled for a second before keeping steady on the pale human form she seemed to prefer.

“Raven?” Charles called as he wheeled out into the hallway. “Is everything okay?"

Raven looked at Charles, as the tears fell down her face. He flinched like he wanted to run over to her and pull her into his arms. She wiped a hand and her cheek and ran down the stairs away from them.

Charles sighed and Erik watched as his face twitched into a smile.

“Would you like to hear the whole story?” he asked.

“I won’t ask that of you."

“I want you to hear it…” Charles said turning his wheelchair around and headed back into the study where their game lay abandoned.

Erik followed him, sitting down in his usual spot and waited to hear what Charles had to say.

“This may end up a jumbled mess, but I’ll do my best.”

Charles looked over at the windows, his eyes glazing over as if he was going into his own mind to uncover the memories.

“The accident was about seven years ago. I was angry and upset and I should not have been driving, but I did because I thought it would help me calm down. Earlier that day I had been talking to my fiancé about the latest kids we had seen come through the agency.” Charles glanced towards Erik with eyebrows raised, “I probably should have mentioned this, but I funded and created the adoption agency that Wanda and Pietro were taken to. Before the accident I was there, running the whole thing. I have found that by looking hard enough, I can pick out a child that will have mutant abilities.” Erik listened holding back any judgement until Charles finished his story.

“Back to the accident. My fiancé had been always a little hesitant towards the idea of children, and I was the complete opposite. I love them, I think it’s important for them to have people in their lives that care about them, and when it comes to mutant children it’s critical to have someone that understands and is willing to nurture their abilities. That day she broke down and told me that she was never going to want children, and that she couldn’t stand me pushing them on her. She felt that every time I mentioned the adoption agency that I was trying to use it as a way to convince her that we should have a child. This was when she gave me back her engagement ring and walked away. I wonder now if it was a way to subconsciously hope that she might change her mind.

“I sat with the ring in my hand for hours before I finally got angry about what had happened and how she felt I treated her, so I took off in one of the cars and drove. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going, I just wanted to be somewhere away from everything. Getting away from everything comes with a lot of winding and curved roads though and I skidded around a corner and down the hill. Raven told me I was in a coma for about a week before I woke up to find out what had happened. I heard her tell you some of the next part. Initially I hadn’t been too upset by not being able to come up here, but I guess after it was said and done everything hit me hard. I couldn’t do anything alone, Raven came back home to take care of me. She would have been happy to never come back to this house, but you’ve heard some of those stories already… and after the elevator was complete now I couldn’t even escape to my study, it had alway been my safe place growing up. I felt I couldn’t work without ruining what little of a life Raven had, and nothing was appetizing so I didn’t eat. It took Raven three months to convince me that they needed my help at the adoption agency.

“She took me in to help them with everything that had been ignored in my absence. Of course since I was there anyway they asked me to stop my the nursery to evaluate the recent children that had been brought in. When I saw Wanda…well what can I say, she was beautiful and of course I could see she had pretty immense abilities. I really want you to be able to see them some time. I had a hard time pulling myself away from her, it reminded me far too much of my ex. We left that day, with a small promise that I would continue to help out every few weeks. What I didn’t know was that Raven went back and set up the adoption of Wanda. She brought her home, and I was angry with Raven for treating a child like a lost puppy. We couldn’t take in a child when I needed her help for everything.

“It was then that Raven told me that I had smiled when I held Wanda to get a feel on her mutation. Raven said that she hadn’t seen that smile since before the accident, and maybe that it signified something. I took Wanda into my arms and in an instant knew what Raven meant. It was unusual for the first few weeks. All the things that I couldn’t do for myself, yet I could still do everything to take care of her. As I said I always wanted children, and I couldn’t think of a better way to spend my life than raising her."

Erik smiled, the last part wasn’t far off from himself. “I can understand that. When Magda got pregnant, I hadn’t thought I’d ever want a child, but after they were born they were the only thing I could think of. After I held Pietro in my arms the first time, I couldn’t imagine why I would want to spend my life without him. It just hurt so much knowing that Wanda was out there.” Erik’s mouth felt dry, so he swallowed and said something he had never expected to say, “I’m glad she has you as a father."

Charles eyes grew wide, and Erik had to look away from him before he embarrassed himself further.

Erik looked out the window seeing that it had gotten quite late. “I should get Pietro home so he can sleep."

“The children are asleep,” Charles noted, “You could stay over. We have more than enough empty rooms and I’m sure Pietro would be in a better mood if you don’t have to wake him up."

Erik laughed at the last bit. There had been a few incidents of temper tantrums when Pietro was tired and ready to go home. He would often start running around the house until he collapsed on the floor somewhere, asleep.

“I’d say I don’t want to burden you, but we’ve talked enough that I know how you’d respond to that."

“Is that a yes?” Charles asked. He’d bounced back from the somber tale of his accident and Wanda’s adoption.

“Please."

Erik took them both downstairs to Wanda’s room where, just as Charles said the children were sleeping. They were both sprawled out on the floor with toys everywhere. Erik chuckled at the mix and mash of Wanda and Pietro’s toys.

“You can stay in the room across the hall, it’ll be the closest room to them."

Erik nodded, “Thanks.” He looked at the children again, but didn’t feel right leaving them the way they were.

Stepping into the room with caution, he picked up Wanda off the floor and placed her in the bed, then he went back for Pietro and placed him by her side. Erik pulled the covers up and dropped a kiss on both their temples before he realized what he’d done. He glanced back at Charles, who either hadn’t noticed or was pretending that he hadn’t seen anything. Pietro grumbled a little from the bed, “Dad?"

“Go to sleep, Pietro. I’ll be across the hallway."

“mhmm….” Pietro acknowledged the statement before falling back asleep.

Erik smiled tempted to take another picture to add to his growing collection, but knew it wouldn’t turn out well in the darkened room.

“Good Night,” he whispered before leaving the room to get settled into his with some assistance from Charles.

Erik had trouble falling asleep that night, thinking about Charles’ story and how he was starting to understand what Wanda meant to Charles.

 

* * *

 

When Erik woke up the next morning he glanced into Wanda’s room only to see that it was empty. He looked around the hallway before realizing he should try feeling out for Charles’ wheelchair.

He caught ahold of the large metal chair and scoffed at how he should have already known where to look for them. Taking the stairs two at a time, Erik made his way to the first floor and the room that Charles had called the most important in the house.

There the three of them where sitting and sifting through the cabinets and fridge.

“Ahh, Good morning,” Charles said when he saw Erik.

“Daddy, Daddy!” Pietro raced to him, “Can you make pancakes? I told them you made the best pancakes."

Erik doubted that was true, but he loved the absolute adoration in Pietro’s eyes. “We have to ask Charles if it’s okay to use his kitchen."

“You don’t have to ask that, you know you’re every bit welcome in this house,” Charles said with a smile, “I won’t lie I’m looking forward to these so called best pancakes. We even started pulling out the ingredients."

Erik shuffled Charles and the kids out of the way as he laid out the ingredients on the counter and started to work.

He loved this feeling. Both of his children in the same place as he made them breakfast, and even Charles there watching him flip the pancakes with complete fascination.

Is this what it would have been like if he and Magda had decided to keep their child when they first found out she was pregnant?

No, Erik could never imagine them this way. It was perfect like this.

He started serving up the pancakes when Raven walked into the kitchen. She was in a robe and her full blue form that Erik had only seen the once. He was starting to wonder if she normally went around like that when it was just Charles and Wanda.

She shifted to her usual look and eyed Erik cautiously. “I was woken by the smell. You’d be surprised at how little this kitchen gets used."

“Raven…” Charles chastised her.

“Why are you letting him cook in the kitchen?” She asked.

“I wanted to use this as a way to say thank you to Charles for letting Pietro and myself stay here last night instead of having to drive home so late."

Erik smiled at Charles as he placed a stack of pancakes in front of him, and continued around the table. He liked seeing the smile that Charles gave him in return.

“You let them stay?” Raven seemed surprised, but Erik could tell it was a different than just her dislike of him, it was more of surprise that Charles would ever let someone stay in their house.

“I couldn’t let them drive home Raven it was late and everyone was tired."

There was of course an unspoken reminder of his accident and a fear that something bad would have happened to Erik and Pietro.

They all took a moment to cut into their pancakes in the silence that was left.

“Erik! These are amazing,” Charles said not even getting his first bite down before he gave his praise.

“I told you,” Pietro commented as he continued to plow through his.

“Very good, thank you Mr. Erik,” Wanda chimed in.

Erik felt himself flush at the compliments. He was used to Pietro saying that everything was the best thing he’d ever eaten that Erik had just written it off as a quirk of his son. It was different to hear the compliment continue around the table.

“Ohh Erik, I had something I wanted to ask you about."

“Yes?” Erik paused in his eating and waited for Charles to continue.

“I was wondering if you would be interested in enrolling Pietro at Wanda’s school for next year?"

He thought about what he knew of Wanda’s school. The place had uniforms, they had come over after school a few time to see her in it before she changed. It was probably private, but if he remembered from Charles’ constant talking it was about halfway towards where he lived, which would put it a little out of the way from their current set up. None of those things seemed too complicated if Pietro wanted to got to the same school as his sister.

“I will have to see what Pietro thinks,” Erik looked at the twins talking to each other and ignoring their conversation.

“It is a school with a number of mutant teachers, and specialized classes where they can further their abilities. Please let us know if you want us to get him in there, and we can take care of it.”

Erik nodded, knowing Pietro would most likely say yes.

 

* * *

 

It quickly gave way to summer, which led to Pietro spending most of his days with Wanda and Charles. Since Charles only went into the adoption agency every few weeks, it was easy for him to watch Pietro instead of having a babysitter or sending him to a daycare.

Some days were harder than others when Erik came to pick Pietro up from the house. He felt like he was missing out on so much that they were getting to do while he had to work, but he didn’t want to lose the smile on Pietro’s face every time he saw his sister.

One night Charles invited him to stay for dinner, which evolved into a game of chess while the kids watched a movie in the living room with Raven.

Erik had been spending the most of the weekends alone with Pietro and they’d been missing out on their ongoing chess battle.

“We went to go see the new dinosaur movie this afternoon, Wanda and Pietro loved it. Raven loved it too, but she’ll never admit it.” Charles had been happy every time Erik left Pietro with him.

“Ohh…” Erik had been looking forward to seeing that one with his son. Now he was probably going to have to wait for it to come out on dvd, and hope that Pietro still liked dinosaurs when that happened.

“What’s wrong Erik?” Charles stopped in the middle of moving his rook to look him the eye.

“Nothing."

“Just because I don’t read your thoughts doesn’t mean I can’t see that your whole mood change just now. What’s the matter?"

Erik didn’t want to tell Charles what he was feeling, it was just his own insecurities that he shouldn’t blame Charles for. “It really isn’t that important."

Charles sighed and placed his rook back at it’s original spot, and rolled back from the table. He moved over next to Erik and placed a hand on Erik’s knee. “It is important."

“Charles…” Erik knew this was going to turn out bad, but when Charles squeezed his knee in reassurance he knew it was too late to ignore it. “I enjoy our time together Charles, but I came here to get my daughter back in my life. I don’t want to take her away from you, but I’m feel like I’m losing my son in the process."

“I would never try to take Pietro away from you,” Charles flinched back from Erik at the accusation.

“You wouldn’t do it on purpose, Charles. I know that, but I miss out on so much when he’s here, and he always wants to be here."

“You don’t think I’m trying to convince him to want to be here do you?”

“No… Shit.” Erik cursed, he bolted up from his chair and started pacing, “This is why I didn’t want to talk about it, Charles."

“Was I just supposed to ignore the fact that you were upset?”

“Yes."

Charles laughed and gave Erik a look as if he were being pitted, “I can’t do that, it’s not in my nature."

“I know!” Erik voice raised, he was getting wound up and he could see this blowing up around him, but he couldn’t stop what was already in motion. “Will Wanda ever know I’m her father, Charles?"

“What?”

“I’m asking if you’ll ever be ready to tell Wanda that I’m her father? Are we going to tell her that Pietro is her brother?” It had been a question that needled at Erik every day. He may have come to the terms that Charles would always be there, but he wanted Wanda to know that she meant something to Pietro and himself. That they were more than just people that came to her house once in a while to play.

“Of course we’ll tell her, but it doesn’t have to be now. I’m not sure that she and Pietro will understand what it means; how it’s different from how their relationship already is,” Charles defended himself.

“I’m not sure you’ll ever be ready Charles. You may say it, but there is something that I see in you that tells me you want to keep her all to yourself."

Those were the words that made Charles snap, “I told you before, she isn’t a possession to be owned. You didn’t even want them.” Charles clasped his mouth, but it was too late to take back to words.

Erik bit his tongue to stop himself from saying anything. To stop him from feeling the sting of those words.

He turned on his heels and stormed out of the room. When he got to the stairs he stopped and clenched his hands. No matter how angry he was at Charles he couldn’t abandon him here. Erik dropped to the top step and leaned against the wall, hoping to calm himself down. The worst part of Charles’ words were that they were true. Until they had been born he hadn’t wanted them. If Charles’ story was true, the man had always wanted children, and made a connection with Wanda without caring that she wasn’t his own flesh and blood.

“I thought you left,” Charles whispered as he stopped his wheelchair next to Erik.

“I wanted to…” Erik admitted, “But no matter how angry I am I couldn’t be that cruel."

“Do you want to take Wanda to your home for the weekend?” Charles asked.

Erik snapped his head to look at him. Charles was attempting to smile, while his eyes were red with unshed tears. “After everything I said?”

“Because of everything you said,” Charles admitted, “I can’t say I’m ready to tell her yet, but you deserve to spend some time with them alone."

Erik looked down at his hands, clasping them together, “Thank you."

“Always,” Charles replied.

Erik stood up and started to levitate Charles’ chair through the staircase as usual. The silence between them grew, it had become normal for them to talk constantly about anything and everything. Erik was already beginning to miss their constant discussions of how mutants fit into the world, and how it affected their lives in so many ways. They might not always agree, but it was enjoyable conversation. Anything would be better than this silence.

“Wanda,” Charles called to his daughter when they reached her door.

“Yes, papa?” she replied getting up from where she and Pietro were trying to braid pigtails on one of her dolls. Erik almost wanted to laugh at the difference between the two sides, but he was sure that Wanda had more practice in that department.

“We were wondering if you wanted to have a sleepover at Pietro and Erik’s house."

“What’s a sleepover?” Wanda asked.

“You know, like when Pietro stays here over night, then we wake up, have breakfast together, and do something the next day? That’s a sleepover,” Charles explained to her, as she nodded her head along with everything he said.

“Yes, I want to sleepover at Pietro and Mr. Erik’s house. Will you be there too, papa?” Erik almost cringed at the question. Normally he wouldn’t mind it, but after their argument he needed some time away from Charles.

“No, darling. Though, I’m sure that Erik will take very good care of you."

She hesitated, letting her emotions play across her face, looking far too similar to Charles. “Are you going to be sad without me?"

Charles laughed and leaned over to pull her into his lap. “I miss you every second that I’m not with you.” He squeezed her tight before pulling away and looking her in the eye, “But I think you will have fun, so I want to to go."

She sighed, “Okay."

“Can you pack up some clothes for yourself, or do you need help?” Charles asked as he put her back on the ground.

“I can do it,” she said indignant that he would dare ask her such a thing.

“I’m sure you can."

Within a few minutes Erik had Wanda and Pietro at his side ready to go out the door.

“Bye! I’ll see you in a few days,” Charles said waving at them from inside while they walked to the car.

Erik packed them into the car, and was about to head out when he heard one last request from Charles before he drove away. _Take care of her, and drive save._

_Of course,_ he sent back before leaving.

~~~

Their separate time with Wanda and Pietro continued through the first month of summer.

Erik enjoyed getting to spend time with both children on his own, although they would still sometimes do something with Charles that he’d hear about when he picked them up. He laughed at himself one night how he almost felt like a divorced father having to split his time with his ex.

They had become so distant that when Charles called one night is almost sent Erik into a panic.

“What’s wrong?” he asked as soon as the phone connected.

“Nothing is wrong,” Charles responded, but his tone didn’t match his words.

“It doesn’t sound that way,” Erik said already grabbing his keys to head out the door to rush to Charles’ home.

“Well, Wanda came in telling me that Pietro was sick, but I’m having a hard time believing it."

“Did you check on him?” Erik wasn’t sure he liked Charles second guessing whether his son was sick, “I’m heading there now."

“I’ll explain when you get here,” Charles tried to calm him down.

Erik hung up the phone, then took a deep breath. Charles had taken perfect care of Wanda for 6 years, he could trust him to take care of Pietro if he was sick. He knew he shouldn’t second guess Charles, so he’d just have to wait until he got there to figure out what Charles had meant.

It took Erik less time than normal to reach the house. He wouldn’t be able to lie if anyone asked if he had been speeding.

Charles opened the door before Erik had gotten up to knock at it. “You shouldn’t have rushed…”

“It’s my son, Charles. Don’t say you wouldn’t have done the same thing for Wanda."

Charles conceded, and opened the door wider for Erik to enter.

When they got into the elevator, Charles paused before hitting the button to take them to the second floor. “Now before we get up there, I wanted to give you a bit of an explanation. I checked on Pietro and he’s a little warm, and is acting sick -"

“Acting sick?” Erik wasn’t sure he had heard those words together since he was a child. Did kids still fake illnesses? Weren’t they supposed to be doing that to get out of school, not to go home from a sleepover.

“That’s the thing. When someone is sick, usually their mind is a bit jumbled. I’ve seen it with both Raven and Wanda, but Pietro seemed fine when I saw his thoughts. The two of them we very insistent that you come here, so I felt I should call you, but I’m not sure what’s going on."

Erik agreed, what were they playing at...

They got upstairs and entered Wanda’s room where Pietro was lying on her bed curled into a ball and whining.

“Hey,” Erik called Pietro’s attention to him. He sat down on the bed and started petting his son’s hair aside to feel his forehead. It wasn’t too hot. When Pietro’s powers had started manifesting he had been burning up all the time, and this was nowhere near as bad.

“How are you feeling?” Erik asked.

“Not good…” Pietro whined.

“Okay, well then we should take you home.”

“What?” Pietro started to yell before he turned it into a groan, “I wanna stay here…"

Erik bit his lip to keep himself from smiling. Charles was right, Pietro wasn’t sick. _Play along,_ Erik asked of Charles.

“We can’t do that Pietro. You’ll get Wanda sick, you don’t want to do that do you?"

Pietro’s eyes widened, as he shook his head too fervently for a sick kid.

“Your dad is right, if Wanda gets sick then you two won’t get to see each other until you’re both better,” Charles chimed in.

“No!” Wanda interjected, calling attention to her.

“So how are you feeling, Pietro? Still sick? Should I take you home?” Erik asked.

“I feel much better now,” he said sitting upright next to Erik.

“Glad to hear. I’ll let you two have the rest of your sleep over, but no more pretending to be sick."

The twins flushed pink knowing that their plan had been uncovered.

“Yes, dad,” Pietro said sulking, watching as Erik got up from the bed and headed towards the door. “Wait? Are you going home?"

“Yes, why wouldn’t I?” Erik asked, observing the look that the twins gave each other.

“You used to stay over…” Pietro said.

Erik walked back to the bed and gave Pietro a kiss to his forehead, “I’m sorry, I can’t tonight I have to get some work done. Maybe next time.” Erik knew that was a lie, but he could tell it was bothering his son for some reason. “Goodnight you two.”

“Goodnight,” they said in unison.

Charles escorted Erik to the door before he said anything, “Do you know why they did that?"

“They’re getting older, I think they’ve noticed that we aren’t talking or hanging out like we used to."

“You do know you’re welcome to stay if you need to,” Charles offered.

Erik smiled, but he wasn’t quite ready to forgive what had happened the last time he’d spent time with Charles. “Thank you."

“Goodnight.”

“Night."

 

* * *

 

The kids had been well behaved after the fake sickness, but Erik had been keeping a closer eye on them since then.

“Mr. Erik, I’ve been practicing my powers, I really want to show you,” Wanda said one afternoon.

“Your father said that you shouldn’t force it. I’ll see it when the time is right.” He didn’t want to cause a rift between her and Charles by trying to disobey his request.

“But I can do it, I know I can.” She grabbed one of Pietro’s toys off the floor, holding it in one hand while she held the other up and was concentrating really hard.

“Wanda,” he warned, “you shouldn’t be doing that."

She ignored him and continued to concentrate on the car. Her hand lit up, glowing bright red and he watched as it went towards the car then bounced up towards her face.

The moment went in slow motion as he tried to pull her out of the way, but wasn’t fast enough.

 

* * *

 

“I am her father!” Erik yelled at the nurse who told him she couldn’t let him into the hospital room.

“Dad?” Pietro tugged at his pant leg.

“What’s going on?” Charles’ voice asked from behind him.

“They won’t let me see her.” Erik was riding the line between anger and breaking down in tears. He’d raced to the hospital with Wanda the instant after it had happened. He barely remembered to grab Pietro and call Charles before he left.

Charles looked at the nurse outside Wanda’s door, “I’m Wanda’s adopted father and this is her birth father, we’re worried about her, and would like to go inside."

She looked at them both for a moment, before she had a heavy blink and opened the door for them to go inside.

As soon as the door was closed, Erik turned towards Charles and asked, “Did you just convince her to do that?"

“Would you rather have been waiting in the hallway?”

“No,” Erik grumbled under his breath.

“Didn’t think so,” Charles rolled to the bed where Wanda was sitting up and smiling at them, “Hello darling, how are you."

Erik looked her over. She looked fine other than the gauze that was plastered over her right eyebrow. He assumed they had to stitch it up where the hex had reflected back at her. In the moment there had been enough blood that Erik couldn’t tell if it had been her eye that had gotten hit.

“I’m okay, they said I’d get ice cream because I was a good girl,” she said, explaining her smile even after the trauma.

“I want ice cream,” Pietro chimed in as he climbed up into the hospital bed next to her.

“I’ll share,” Wanda replied.

Erik took a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves.

“Why were you yelling at that nurse?” Wanda asked.

“I…” Erik went silent. He would never be able to explain this one to Wanda.

“Wanda, do you remember where I work?” Charles asked.

She nodded.

“What do we do there?"

“You find new moms and dads for the kids that don’t have any…” she responded.

“Good, well…” Charles took a deep breath, but continued, “You were one of those kids when Aunt Raven and I found you."

“So…you aren’t my real dad?” she asked looking like she was about to cry. Erik tried to not laugh that the girl had hit herself with her own powers, almost catching her eye, without so much as a tear, but the thought of Charles not being her father brought them out in an instant.

“Ohh no sweetheart. You will always be my daughter and I love you very much. It just means that you and I don’t share the same blood. Like how Aunt Raven and I aren’t blood related. I told you that before didn’t I?” She nodded for him as she rubbed her eyes of the tears. “See, we’re still family. It just means that you have more family."

She seemed very confused by this statement. Charles rolled as close as he could to her bed and took her hand in his. He gave it a small kiss before he continued. “Like you said we find parents for children that have no parents, but sometimes they do have parents. And sometimes they have siblings.” Erik wasn’t sure that this was going to work, but he couldn’t help smiling that Charles was willing to tell her. “You are one of those children, and your dad and brother have been searching very hard to find you, because they love you just as much as I do.” She looked between Erik and Pietro. “Yes, Erik is your father and Pietro is your brother. You two are twins in fact. That’s why you became friends so quickly."

“Is that true?” Pietro chimed in.

“Yes, Pietro. I wanted you and your sister to be together again,” Erik told his son.

“But why was I there if I had a dad already?” Wanda asked.

“Sometimes we make mistakes, Wanda. And we don’t get a chance to fix them until it’s too late,” Charles said. “So you asked why Erik was yelling at that nurse, it’s because she didn’t want to let him in to see you. He was very worried about you, but because I adopted you, they don’t think he is your father."

“That’s stupid,” Pietro said, making Charles and Erik laugh.

“Yes it is."

Charles looked between Wanda and Erik, before letting go of his daughter’s hand and rolling back towards the door.

“Well now that they’ve patched you up we should get out of here,” Charles said leaving the door and leaving Erik with his kids.

“Can I call you dad?” Wanda asked.

“Of course you can,” Erik replied stepping towards the bed. “I would like that very much."

“Well you can’t be papa, but you can be dad,” she stated.

Erik laughed again, “Charles will always be your papa, I promise that."

She smiled at him, then looked at Pietro. “And you are my brother…so now you have to protect me from any bullies at school."

Erik was almost horrified by the statement, “Do kids pick on you at school Wanda?"

Wanda shrugged her shoulders, “No, but in the movies I watch with Auntie Raven, the big brothers always protect their little sisters. Papa says that he used to protect Raven from bullies at school."

“I’m sure he did. And I don’t doubt that Pietro will run you away from anyone that’s being mean to you, but I don’t think Charles would be too happy if he were to fight anyone."

“I don’t really want him to do that either,” Wanda said as she looked at Pietro.

“I can take them!” He shouted.

Erik ruffled his hair, “Lets just hope it won’t be a problem."

_Ready?_ Charles asked.

Erik gathered Wanda and Pietro up and met Charles out in the lobby.

“Ready to go home?” Charles asked.

“Yes,” Wanda replied.

_Yes,_ Erik sent to Charles. He smiled as he watched Charles’ eyes widen in surprise.

“Did Raven drive you? Or do you need a ride,” Erik asked aloud.

“Raven’s waiting in the parking lot, but she seems a little distracted at the moment, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind getting to stay a little longer."

Erik nodded and lead them out to the car, and helped everyone get situated before he put the wheelchair away in the trunk. He was glad to know it fit, if he might need that information or the future.

The drive was mostly filled with the noise from Wanda and Pietro in the back.

When they reached the mansion Erik attended to Charles, and let the kids run ahead to the front door to wait for them, though as soon as the door opened they disappeared upstairs to Wanda’s room, leaving Charles and Erik alone.

“Did you want to finish that game we started?” Charles asked.

“You didn’t cheat and move any pieces while I was gone did you?” Erik teased as they went towards the elevator.

“Really now, how could I do that? But I will say I’ve had some time to think out my moves, and I’m glad we stopped playing or I would have handed you a victory."

“Is that so?”

“Yes."

They got out of the elevator and maneuvered their way back to the third floor.

Erik frowned when he saw the layer of dust that had settled in the month since he’d last been up to the room.

Charles settled himself on his normal side, and looked at Erik, “Aren’t we going to play?"

“I have to do something first,” Erik said, ignoring the confused look Charles gave him as he walked closer. Erik’s hand raise to Charles’ jaw, and he leaned over to give him a chaste kiss on the lips.

He pulled away, and looked Charles in the eye, “Thank you."

Charles smiled, “It felt right."

“Still it means a lot to me."

“I know."

And with that Erik sat down, watching Charles make his move as if no time had passed.

**Author's Note:**

> This started as a twist on trying to fulfill dappertime's request of a Parent Trap type AU, but as you can see the train leapt off those tracks...


End file.
